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For the fans in Edmonton and Toronto, this hurts even more than usual.

Unless you are really old and stuck in time and go back to the Maple Leafs in 1967 or pretty old and go back to the Oilers in 1990 where your clock stopped.

And even then ...

Sure, the Maple Leafs have 14 Stanley Cups and the Oilers have five. And, yes, the Oilers went to Game 7 of the final in 2006, which is not really that long ago when you consider the tournament for the trophy goes back to 1893.

But ask anybody in Edmonton. When you’re living it and it’s nine straight years out of the playoffs and the NHL record is 10 ...

Modern day NHL franchises in Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg and Ottawa, combined, have won one Stanley Cup — Calgary in 1989.

But this is professional sport. And it’s a what-have-you-done-for-us lately business. Lately, even if the seats are sold in the two arenas, it’s been a test to be a Leafs or Oilers fan.

Chants of “1967” become a curse.

And as a hockey nation, chants of “1993” — the last time a Canadian team won a Stanley Cup — have been reverberating in arenas around the country for a few years now.

The point is, the other Canadian teams are in. And Toronto and Edmonton are out. Way out. Out of it since Halloween in the Oilers’ case.

For Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal and the nation, this could be the year. And those teams go in with their towns totally turned on.

In Toronto and Edmonton, there’s only one playoff date.

That’s 8 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Mountain on Hockey Night In Canada’s first weekend playoff production when the bingo balls come out of the machine at the NHL draft lottery for Connor McDavid on Saturday

There have been five Canadian cities in the playoffs before. But it will be the first time since 2004 and only the fourth time in the last 25 years, there are this many.

And this time is different.

To varying degrees, those four cities are all giddy — giddy like the first time for Calgary and especially Winnipeg, where it will be the first playoff game in 19 years after being out of the league from 1996 to 2011.

And with Calgary versus Vancouver and Ottawa versus Montreal it will sure be different than when ‘No Canada’ was the storyline after the first round of the playoffs in previous years.

Now, in the first year of the new TV deal with Rogers Sportsnet, it’s ‘Oh Canada’. There are going to be Stanley Cup games galore on Canadian ice.

In three cities — Winnipeg, Calgary and Ottawa — there is over-the-moon delight just to be involved.

Those three teams were counted out by many at the start of the season and counted out at various stages of the season as well. But they all made remarkable runs to the playoffs.

And, remember, Vancouver ended up on the outside looking in at the playoffs last year. There’s a different mood and attitude there as well.

The first series to be set was Calgary-Vancouver.

There’s plenty of playoff history between these two teams.

Go back to 2004. The sixth-seeded Flames went seven against the third-seeded Canucks. Ex-Oiler Martin Gelinas scored the winner to launch the Flames on a trip to the Stanley Cup final. The last three times the Flames and Canucks have met in the playoffs, the winner has ended up in the final.

The Flames have been the fun franchise.

Some had them picked last with a long run in the nether regions of the NHL supposedly on tap.

The Flames haven’t been in the playoffs since the 2008-09 season and haven’t won a playoff round since 2004 when they lost the Cup final to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Flames’ amazing season was highlighted by the team acquiring 25% of their points in the standings coming back after trailing following the second period. More than 40% of their goals were scored in the third period. And they completed their run to the playoffs despite losing the league’s top point-producing defenceman to that point, captain Mark Giordano, for the final 21 games of the season. Calgary finished up 12-6-3 without him.

Calgary has been out of the playoffs for a while. But Winnipeg was out of the league for 15 years.

The Jets have been on the runway to this moment with a 12-2-2 run in front of the loudest fans in the league in the smallest building in the league. Even if they lose their first two in Anaheim, the anticipation for Games 3 and 4 in Winnipeg is going to be incredible.

The Senators have 22 wins since Feb. 10. Edmonton ended up with 24 for the entire season.

The Senators are the first team in NHL history to qualify for playoffs after sitting 14 points outside the post-season picture at any point in season.

They have the Hamburglar — Andrew Hammond in goal — stealing win after win in putting together a 20-1-2 record. And Ottawa won a first-round series against Montreal in 2013.

Canadiens fans have a top goaltender in Carey Price (44-16-6), who just broke a regular-season franchise win record previously shared by Jacques Plante and Ken Dryden.

Maybe the odds still aren’t really that good that the great northern drought of Canadian teams failing to capture the Cup, dating back to Montreal 22 springs ago, is about to end.

This year looks like one of those years just about any team could win.

But you can’t win without a team in the playoffs. And in Toronto and Edmonton, there isn’t one.

Every night as reports come in from around the nation of special scenes on the Red Mile in Calgary, from the Whiteout in Winnipeg and the special games that only the playoffs can produce, it will be another twist of the knife in Edmonton and Toronto.

Unless, of course, one of those two cities wins Connor McDavid, in which case, enjoy the playoffs everybody else. See you during Stanley season real soon.